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Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva

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Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva
Nurxon Yoʻldoshxoʻjayeva
Нурхон Йўлдошхўжаева
Born1913
Margilan, Russian Turkestan (present-day Uzbekistan)
Died1 July 1929 (aged 16)
Margilan, Uzbek SSR, USSR
Cause of deathStabbed in an honor killing
MonumentsStatue dedicated in 1960s but removed shortly after Uzbekistan gained independence
Occupation(s)Dancer, actress
Known forRemoving veil in public
The statue of Nurkhon, which used to be in the town square in Margilan, was removed after independence

Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva[a] (Uzbek: Nurxon Yoʻldoshxoʻjayeva, Нурхон Йўлдошхўжаева; c. 1911– 1 July 1929) was one of the first Uzbek women actresses and one of the first Uzbek woman to dance onstage without a paranja.[1] A rising star in Uzbek theater, her career was cut short in 1929 by an honor killing, she became a symbol of women’s liberation and resistance to feudalism.

Life

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Nurkhon was born in 1913 to an Uzbek family in Margilan, in the Ferghana Valley region. Raised in a repressive and very religious environment, she began wearing the veil at a young age like other Uzbek girls of the time. However, she grew interested in theater, and in 1928 she ran away from home to join the theater troupe of Muhitdin Qoriyoqubov, which was based in Samarkand at the time.[2][3] She was mentored by Usta Olim Komilov,[4] and her colleagues there included the future People's Artist of the USSR Tamara Khanum and the future People’s Artist of Uzbekistan Gavhar Rahimova. Shortly after joining the group, on 8 March 1928, she and another dancer went onstage and publicly removed their face-veils in celebration of International Women's Day, defying the social positions that had been imposed on them.[5] Throughout her life, she was often threatened by religious fanatics who were enraged that she defied social norms by taking off the veil and seeking an acting career.[6]

Murder

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When the dance troupe visited her hometown of Margilan in summer 1929, she decided to visit her family. She showed her aunt the dances and songs that she had learned, after which her aunt told her that her brother Salixoʻja was looking for her. He was waiting for her with a knife, and stabbed her to death as soon as she appeared. When the police came, he immediately confessed to the crime. He admitted that the murder was premeditated,[7] at the insistence of their father Yoʻldoshxoʻja Salimxoʻjaev, the ming-boshi (a local administrator), and mullah Kamal G'iasov, who made Salixoʻja swear on the Quran to kill her.[2] The day after her death, a massive funeral was held in the public square. Thousands of people attended the memorial, and women threw off their face-veils in front of her coffin.[7][5] Her father and brother were eventually tried and executed for their role in the murder, and the ming-boshi and mullah were exiled.[2]

Her sister Begimkhan, who had joined the theater troupe with her, joined Nurkhon on their trip to Margilan. The plan was to kill her as well; however, she did not end up visiting her parents because she was sick with a fever. Begimkhan lived on to have a successful career as an actress at the opera and ballet theater named after Alisher Navoi.

A poem memorializing Nurkhon was published in the Uzbek newspaper "Yosh Leninchi" (Young Leninist) on 20 November 1938.[4]

Legacy

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After her death she was honored by the authorities of the USSR as a courageous Soviet role model and martyr,[8] similar to that of Tursunoy Saidazimova. A statue of Nurkhon[9] was built and placed in Margilan in front of the House of Culture. Made by sculptor Valentin Klevantsov in 1967,[10][11] her statue was taken down in 1993 shortly after the disestablishment of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991;[12][13] A monument to a young woman representing the struggle for feminine emancipation was considered immoral in post-Soviet Uzbekistan.[14] In the city of Ferghana there is a cinema that still bears her name though, the "Nurkhon" cinema.[15]

Nurkhon was the heroine of the Soviet musical play “Nurkhon” by Kamil Yashin popular throughout the mid 20th century.[3] A poem memorializing Nurkhon Yuldashkhojayeva was published in the Uzbek newspaper “Yosh Leninchi” (Young Leninist) on 20 November 1938.[4]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ also anglicized as Nurkhon Yuldasheva

References

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  1. ^ Vitkovich, Viktor (1954). A Tour Of Soviet Uzbekistan. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House. p. 98.
  2. ^ a b c Kamp, Marianne (2011). The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity, and Unveiling under Communism. University of Washington Press. pp. 205–206. ISBN 9780295802473.
  3. ^ a b "Нурхон" [Nurkhon] (PDF). Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi (in Uzbek). Vol. 6. Tashkent: Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi. 2003.
  4. ^ a b c Okhunova, Etibor (13 March 1986). "Тариҳ саҳифаларини варақаганда: Мунаввар чорраҳалар" [When flipping through the pages of history: Illuminated sections]. Совет Ўзбекистони (in Uzbek). p. 4.
  5. ^ a b Avdeeva, Lyubov (2009). Тамара Ханум. Моя жизнь. Воспоминания о себе и выдающихся деятелях искусств Узбекистана. Tashkent: Национальной библиотеки Узбекистана имени А. Навои.
  6. ^ История узбекской музыки: Учеб. пособие для муз. вузов (in Russian). Музыка. 1979.
  7. ^ a b Nam, Nadezhda; Islamova, Lola (16 January 2017). "Женщина и свобода в выборе одежды". Anhor.uz (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  8. ^ Rubin, Don (1999-04-30). World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre. Taylor & Francis. p. 458. ISBN 9780415260879. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  9. ^ Picture of the statue - Boy Looks up at Statue of Nurkhon
  10. ^ Ioganson, Boris Vladimirovich (1978). Искусство стран и народов мира: краткая художественная енциклопедия : архитектура, живопись, скульптура, графика, декоративное искусство (in Russian). Советская энциклопедия. p. 499.
  11. ^ "Sculptors". O'zbekiston haykaltaroshligi.[permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ Colin Thubron, The Lost Heart of Asia. Heinemann, 1994
  13. ^ The Moscow Times, Volume 2, Issues 46-57. Moscow Times. 1995. p. 36.
  14. ^ MacLeod, Calum; Mayhew, Bradley (2004). Ouzbékistan: Samarcande, Boukhara, Khiva (in French). Olizane. p. 141. ISBN 978-2-88086-313-5.
  15. ^ ""Days of the Uzbek National Cinema Arts" held in Margilan". Uzdaily.com. Retrieved 2010-09-12.

Further reading

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